On the Hill

As Congress begins is last minute push to wrap up loose ends before the holidays, the House is expected to consider the Budget agreement and begin consideration on a 30 day Farm Bill extension today. After the House passes these measures, the legislation will then go to the Senate for consideration. There is a possibility…

The House Leadership is expected to consider the Budget deal on Thursday. Although there have been small rumblings of discontent by some Republican House Members with the deal because it does allow funding over Sequester levels, the measure is expected to pass the House. The Senate will consider it soon after.

The agreement reached on Wednesday by Senator Patty Murray and Congressman Paul Ryan reverses some sequestration cuts without raising taxes or making changes to entitlement programs. If approved, Congressional appropriators would have at their discretion $492 billion for non-military spending. That is about $23 billion more than would be available if Congress were to allow…

In a move that is sure to increase partisan tension, Senate Democrats made a historic move today and eliminated filibusters for most presidential nominations – severely limiting political leverage for the Republican party. The change applies to all executive and judicial branch nominations with the exception of the Supreme Court and means that confirmation is…

Senator Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, announced a hearing on America COMPETES today. The hearing will be November 6th at 2:30 pm EST. Those interested can watch the hearing live.

Formal budget negotiations begin today with Democrats pushing for a multibillion-dollar job creation package aimed at speeding up economic growth. That will be in contrast with Republicans who want to maintain spending cuts under sequestration that will keep government operations running at reduced levels through the rest of FY2014. One thing that leaders in both…

House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-TX, published an op-ed in Politico today. In it, he asserts that federal budget is so taken up with entitlements that the nation’s investment in science is suffering and will continue to suffer as a result. Further, Chairman Smith argues that entitlement reform means more funding for basic science…

Negotiations broke down (again) yesterday as the House GOP leadership failed to find enough support among their caucus to move forward two separate proposals to end the shutdown and raise the nation’s debt limit. All eyes are on the Senate as they resume negotiations. The tentative deal under discussion in the Senate would reopen the…

Congressional leaders continue to work toward reopening government and extend the debt limit before the October 27th deadline. While details are vague, it appears that the proposal would immediately end the shutdown and fund federal agencies for six months at current spending levels. It would maintain the automatic cuts, or sequester, but give agency officials…